Reducing the risk of Nipah virus transmission in Bangladesh

Researchers

Nipah virus commonly infects large fruit bats in South and Southeast Asia. It does not cause any apparent disease in bats, but when the infection spills over into humans in Bangladesh, over 75 percent of infected people die, and infected humans can pass the infection on to other people. People in Bangladesh most commonly become infected with Nipah virus by drinking raw date palm sap that has been contaminated by bats during harvest. This project involves a number of activities to better understand the circumstances contributing to Nipah transmission, including an assessment of risk that it will evolve into an organism capable of more efficient person-to-person transmission as well as developing and testing strategies to reduce the risk of transmission.